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Dracula (miniseries)
| music = | cinematography = Elemér Ragályi | editor = Alessandro Lucidi | company = | distributor = Sirio Vide | released = | runtime = 173 minutes | country = Italy Germany | language = English | budget = }} Dracula, also known as Dracula's Curse, is a 2002 Italian 2 part TV-miniseries written and directed by Roger Young and starring Patrick Bergin, Giancarlo Giannini and Stefania Rocca. It is based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker, though it updates the events of the novel to the present day.Il bacio di Dracula Plot At a ballroom of a hospital charity party in Budapest, the successful American lawyer Jonathan Harker (Hardy Krüger Jr.) suddenly proposes to his girlfriend Mina (Stefania Rocca). He wants to marry her within the week. Their friends Lucy (Muriel Baumeister), Quincy (Alessio Boni) and Arthur (Conrad Hornby) have been invited by Jonathan and have just arrived for the wedding, all without Mina's awareness. Meanwhile, they meet the promoter of the party, the psychiatrist Dr. Seward (Kai Wiesinger). Later in the same night, Jonathan is called by a rich client, Tepes (Patrick Bergin), who hires him to prepare the inventory of the wealth of his uncle, the count Vladislav Tepes (Patrick Bergin), in Romania. Jonathan travels to the Carpathian Mountains in his Porsche, has an accident and finally arrives in the count's old castle. Vlad Tepes, here calling himself Count Vladislav Tepes, decides to leave his castle and move to the west. He says he feels tired from Romania's decline and the seclusion of his life. In Budapest he discusses some illegal business with Harker. He also wants Jonathan's help in turning his collection of paintings, jewels and his gold deposits to cash. Jonathan's friends businessman Quincey Morris, specialising in money swindles, and Arthur Holmwood, a British diplomat who is in a debt, offer to help. Though Jonathan and Arthur have their doubts about the deal Quincey convinces them that money is all that matters and its one true power that makes the world go around. Dracula gets very interested in those young people—the men, hungry for money and power; Lucy, who wants to sleep in many beds, in many cities, have new experiences and live for ever; and Mina, who wants to change the world and end human suffering. Throughout the film Dracula tries to seduce all five of them into his own world, make them wish to become vampires. Focusing again and again on how hypocritical morality is and promising them the loss of their consciences, he says survival of the fittest is the proper way and even the strong cannot save the weak. He also references God's slaughters in the Bible to prove that humanity was created in his image, the image of a killer. There to stop him is the researcher of the occult and Seward's teacher Dr. Enrico Valenzi the one who believes that Dracula can be defeated when he faces a strong will empowered by faith. But throughout this film he raises more and more self-doubts and his will is almost broken by the end. It is Mina, halfway through her transformation to a vampire, that manages to make Dracula trust her and kills him as he holds her in an embrace. The films end with Mina still having the vampire's mark and how that affects her remains a question. Cast * Patrick Bergin as Vladislav Tepes / Dracula * Giancarlo Giannini as Dr. Enrico Valenzi * Hardy Krüger Jr. as Jonathan Harker * Stefania Rocca as Mina * Muriel Baumeister as Lucy * Kai Wiesinger as Dr. Seward * Alessio Boni as Quincy * Conrad Hornby as Arthur Holmwood * Brett Forest as Roenfield * Alessia Merz as Fair Woman * Piroska Kiss as Dark Woman * István Göz as Male Nurse * Barna Illyés as Border Guard * Csaba Pethes as Captain of the Tug * Balázs Tardy as Tug Crew Member 1 * Levente Törköly as Tug Crew Member 2 * Ilona Kassai as Woman at the Hotel * Imola Gáspár as Woman at the Manor * Csilla Bakonnyi as Hungarian Woman * Petra Hauman as Mother of the Boy * Tibor Kenderesi as Man at the Hotel * Andrew Divoff as Doctor Reception Critical reaction to the film has been mixed to negative. David Johnson of DVD Verdict offered a positive review, saying: "Everyone involved commits to doing an okay job, and the production values and general atmosphere help shed the burden of the film stock and sad-sack effects. Bergin's Dracula is effectively crusty and malicious, and Muriel Baumeister has a good time hamming it up as the infected Lucy."DVD Verdict Review - Dracula's Curse Others were less positive: The SF, Horror, and Fantasy Film Review wrote, "While the film does an excellent job in updating Dracula to the midst of New Europe's nouveau riche, director Roger Young lets the show down considerably in the second half. ... The script does get caught up in some pretentious natterings and the performances are particularly uneven."Moria - The science fiction, horror and fantasy movie review site - Dracula (2002) Noel Megahey of DVD Times said, "It's the awkwardness in the script and the dialogue that weighs heavily on the film, although the film actually does operate half-way successfully when it moves into the non-verbal action sequences. What really sinks the film in the end, though, is not the weakness of the special effects, but the performances and the delivery of the pan-European cast that struggles through their semi-dubbed English-language lines."DVD Times - Dracula David Hall of EatMyBrains.com said, "There have been far worse cinematic incarnations of Stoker's tale than this — but it must rank as one of the dreariest adaptations ever — a toothless bore shorn of any frisson of eroticism, with nary a drop of blood in sight."EAT MY BRAINS! - Dracula (aka Dracula's Curse) Review See also * Vampire film * List of vampire television series References External links * Category:2002 films Category:2002 television films Category:2002 horror films Category:Italian films Category:German films Category:Italian television miniseries Category:2000s German television miniseries Category:2000s Italian television series Category:2000s German television series Category:Italian horror films Category:German horror films Category:English-language films Category:Italian-language films Category:Films directed by Roger Young Category:Dracula films Category:Vampires in film Category:Vampires in television Category:Dracula television programmes Category:Films shot in Hungary